Boundary Line
by Chinese Bakery
Summary: He had read those emotions in many strangers' mind and yet feeling it, living it, letting it thoroughly consume his mind was something else altogether. Edward-centric.


**Boundary Line**

Author: chinesebakery  
Characters: Edward, Alice (implied Edward/Bella)  
Summary: He had read those emotions in many strangers' mind and yet feeling it, living it, letting it thoroughly consume his mind was something else altogether.  
Rating: k  
Spoilers: Eclipse (chapter 11, "Legends")  
A/N: Thanks to becoolbec for the beta.

* * *

_Are you gonna sit here and brood all evening?_

"Probably," he sighed, defeated. If only they would all leave him alone.

_"Come on. Let's _do _something. We should go out and... I don't know. Steal a boat? I've always wanted to have my own boat. We could try something new. Like sharks. Have you ever tasted shark blood?_"

"I believe I told you I wanted to be alone. Can you please go and bother Jasper?" he murmured impatiently, keeping his back to her to nullify the effect of her falsely enthusiastic grin.

_He left. Your foul mood was getting to him._

White, black, white, white. The familiar feel of smooth lacquered wood under his finger was soothing as he grazed the keys, not pressing hard enough to make a sound.

_It's getting to me too. I can't sit here and watch you drown in your own misery all night._

"Then I suggest you go and find something else to do with your time. But for your information, shark blood is awfully bitter."

"Killjoy," she said out loud with just a hint of reproach in her voice.

"That seems to be the general consensus, tonight," he said flatly. "But I don't need to be distracted."

To an extent, it was a particularly fascinating experience, and he wouldn't miss it for the world.

No great Russian novel, no bitter-sweet love song, no heart-wrenching movie could ever have prepared him for this. He had read those emotions in many strangers' mind, stolen glimpses of the same incapacitating turmoil in men and women of all ages and conditions. He'd even heard it in _his_ head earlier, when he'd left Bella at the boundary line.

And yet feeling it, living it, letting it thoroughly consume his mind was something else altogether. Jealousy seemed much too tame a word for what he was enduring. How could it be such a universally shared sentiment? How did those confused, quick-tempered humans deal with it all the time?

_You don't deserve her. Last time you destroyed her, I was there. Where were you?_

They probably didn't willingly drive their girlfriend to an all-werewolf party, to start with. They didn't trust their enemy and rival with her life. They didn't have to smell that distinctive dog stench soiling her delicious scent.They didn't have to hear the twisted fantasies, the hideous delusions.

_She loves me. She. Loves. Me. I'll make sure knows it __if it's the last thing I do._

The dog always knew how to arise the most despicable urges. But for all the bravado, there was more truth to that than even Jacob suspected. She had lied. She had escaped. She had been _scared_ to face him. Forcing her away from that damn dog had been very counter-productive, really. And he wasn't sure he could sit through another of Rosalie's lectures on his despicable control issues.

All he could do was wait. So he waited, still as a statue, his mind reeling with the same images he had seen in other people's head so many times. Different faces, identical torment.

When, at long last, his cell phone started buzzing, he grabbed it as quickly as his vampire velocity allowed. He was already at the door when he heard Jacob's voice.

"Bella's asleep. She's had a great time," the werewolf informed him smugly.

"I'll be right over."

"Take your time. She's quite comfortable."

"I'll be right over," he repeated between gritted teeth as he turned the engines on, and clicked the phone shut.

As he paced nervously by the boundary line, he had to work acutely at composing his confident facade back. Her magnetic scent was almost unrecognizable, sullied, desecrated. But for the time being, deservedly or not, she was still his.


End file.
